restorer-john
Grand Contributor
I'm interested in HiFi equipment measurements, always have been, but which ones are the most important to you and which ones don't matter quite so much?
To me, the most important parameter is absolute noise floor as it limits several other parameters. I want to know what the residual noise is, in uV and what it looks like (spectra) is it hum, buzz, hiss or random HF crap from an SMPS.
The second most important parameter to me is frequency response, at various power/load levels. I have found very minor deviations in amplifier responses can characterize the sound. I like to zoom in as far as I can, especially at the low end and up the top.
The third to me is power (voltage developed over various loads) for whatever device at the onset of clipping and its behaviour into difficult loads.
The fourth for me would be transient behaviour (square waves, impulses, overload recovery etc).
My fifth would be channel balance as there is nothing worse than poorly matched stereo channels- even a tiny level difference will be amplified right up the chain.
And last place, at sixth is THD. THD on most digital (and good analogue) is academic- you can't audibly discern it IMO, even at -60dB. You may hear some fade-out-to-noise artifacts on early digital recordings when they were running out of bits, but on the whole, THD in digital is a non-issue. It was a non-issue at the launch of CD in 1982.
What are your priorities in measured parameters and why?
To me, the most important parameter is absolute noise floor as it limits several other parameters. I want to know what the residual noise is, in uV and what it looks like (spectra) is it hum, buzz, hiss or random HF crap from an SMPS.
The second most important parameter to me is frequency response, at various power/load levels. I have found very minor deviations in amplifier responses can characterize the sound. I like to zoom in as far as I can, especially at the low end and up the top.
The third to me is power (voltage developed over various loads) for whatever device at the onset of clipping and its behaviour into difficult loads.
The fourth for me would be transient behaviour (square waves, impulses, overload recovery etc).
My fifth would be channel balance as there is nothing worse than poorly matched stereo channels- even a tiny level difference will be amplified right up the chain.
And last place, at sixth is THD. THD on most digital (and good analogue) is academic- you can't audibly discern it IMO, even at -60dB. You may hear some fade-out-to-noise artifacts on early digital recordings when they were running out of bits, but on the whole, THD in digital is a non-issue. It was a non-issue at the launch of CD in 1982.
What are your priorities in measured parameters and why?
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